Tobacco chewing was common among certain American Indian groups. After 1815 it became almost a distinctive mode of tobacco usage in the United States, replacing pipe smoking. Partly the switch was a chauvinistic reaction against European snuff-taking and pipe-smoking; partly it was a matter of convenience for pioneering Americans on the move, since chewing was easier than lighting up a cumbersome pipe. The symbol of the change was the spittoon or cuspidor, which became a necessity of 19th-century America. Manufacturing statistics are revealing: of 348 tobacco factories listed by the 1860 census for Virginia and North Carolina, 335 concentrated wholly on chewing tobacco, and only 6 others even bothered with smoking tobacco as a sideline, using scraps from plug production.

The rising popularity of manufactured cigarettes by the beginning of the 20th century spelled the decline of chewing tobacco. After World War I, plug-taking fell off abruptly, though its usage increased in the 1980s and early ’90s as it was believed to be a safe alternative to cigarette smoking. Studies, however, revealed that chewing tobacco was associated with numerous health problems, including cancer and heart disease.